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    VGN SZ370P Fan issue/failure

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by pwaggs, Feb 16, 2010.

  1. pwaggs

    pwaggs Notebook Consultant

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    My vaio's fan quit around the time I installed Windows 7. I cannot say for sure that Windows 7 caused the problem, but I cannot for the life of me get the fan to turn even one revolution now.

    So I have looked into replacing the fan which actually seems very simple. My problem is, before I pay the money for a new fan, how do I ensure that the problem is actually the fan and not the thermostat on the motherboard which would make replacing the fan worthless.

    The fan would be repairable, however, a failed thermostat means that I should just back up the hard drive and prepare for eventual component failure as it is heating up like a sun of a gun now.
     
    pwaggs, Feb 16, 2010
    #1
  2. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    Have you tried here in the Vaio Control Center? Performance mode will set you fans to a more constant speed, where Balanced sets it to keep it cool, but also quiet, so in Balanced the fans aren't really on or noticeable.

    [​IMG]
     
    H.A.L. 9000, Feb 16, 2010
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  3. leslieann

    leslieann Notebook Deity

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    Typically fans don't fail without some way of being obvious, there is only one moving part and the only contacts are the bearings. There is little to wear out. The most common failure is the grease in the bearings getting hard, about the only likely thing to fail to be honest. You can easily check this by seeing how easy it is to turn with a finger or small screwdriver or something. If it feels notchy, it's probably bad, hard to turn, it's bad.

    If you want to test it though, unplug the fan, and give it 5volts to see what it does. An old usb cable can give you 5volts if you have no old power packs or anything laying around. 5 volts should be fine to see if it will just spin.

    If you do replace it, you may want to look into what it takes to upgrade to the newer fan as they are more quiet and efficient, but not a direct replacement. It takes a little work but nothing difficult.
     
    leslieann, Feb 17, 2010
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  4. ghrh

    ghrh Notebook Guru

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    Download some Linux distribution (Ubuntu) and start system from LiveCD. If the fan works, there is no problem with your hardware. As the fan is software controlled there might be some incompatibility between Win7 and the driver in one of the Sony libs.
     
    ghrh, Feb 17, 2010
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